Sixth place for Monahan in 800m heat

Ireland’s Patrick Monahan has finished 6th in his T53 800m heat with a time of 1:48.41, missing out in a place in tomorrow’s final.

The Le Cheile AC athlete got off to a strong start taking the bell in 2nd place, but ultimately fell away as the finishing straight came into sight with France’s Pierre Fairbank winning the heat with a time of 1:46.25.

Speaking after the event Monahan said: “The only chance I had was to push hard from the start but I was a sitting duck, really. I might have got a quicker time if I’d just sat at the back but I had to give it a go.

“I do very little track work – the marathon is my event. I just don’t have the speed at the moment. Hopefully, I’ll get it eventually. Some of these guys have a another gear, another two gears on me at the moment.”

Ireland Team Manager, James Nolan, said: "It was a tricky race for Patrick, ideally he was looking for a fast race pushed in single file where he had a chance to qualify on time. Unfortunately this did not materialise and he did the right thing drifting up to second at the bell but does not have the gears yet to accelerate with these track specialists. He will gain valuable experience from his first major championships on the track."

Monahan's coach, Ian Mirfin, added: "These guys are seasoned campaigners and have the acceleration. Patrick will learn from this, it's not bad going for a marathon racer."

Monahan is a former winner of the Dublin and Columbus Ohio Marathons and this is his first World Championships after taking up wheelchair racing having been inspired by the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

Focus tomorrow switches to the field where Rio bronze medallist Noelle Lenihan will be in action in the F38 Discus final, which gets underway at 20:00.

The Cork teenager won gold in the European Championships in Grosetto, Italy, in 2016 having already claimed the silver medal in the World Championships in Doha the year before and will have high hopes heading into tomorrow’s final.

More than 1,100 athletes from 95 countries will compete over the ten days (14th – 23rd July) at the London Olympic Stadium with over 250,000 tickets already sold making it by far the biggest in the event’s history.

Paralympics Ireland are providing a media service for the duration of the Championships with daily press releases and all results live on Twitter. Sportsfile will be syndicating images daily reproduction fee free with further updates on Facebook and Instagram. A comprehensive website with full schedule, results and a live feed is also available at www.paraathleticschampionships.com. We also have a dedicated page on our website www.paralympics.ie/competitions Channel 4 in the UK will also screen 30 hours of live coverage over the duration of the Championships.

The Irish team is proudly supported by Flogas and Allianz; official partners of Paralympics Ireland.